The McConnell constituent provided his office a link to the story, and asked McConnell’s office to “confirm or refute the accuracy of this story.”

In response, the Pentagon asked McConnell’s staffer to go down the hall and ask the Deputy Undersecretary for Reserve Affairs to sign out the range fans and a couple of bottles of halogen fluid. According to McConnell’s office, four months after the incident, the mission is still in progress.

Emails to Senator McConnell’s office asking if sequestration would have any effect on the chronic shortage of chem light batteries and bulk shipments of grid squares to the troops were not immediately returned.